Singapore: SingTel Trial Enables OTA Reloads of NETS Purse
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The six-month payment and couponing trial enabled subscribers to tap to pay with a contactless e-purse from bank-owned payment company Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore, or NETS. They could recharge the purse over the air using a cobranded credit card account from United Overseas Bank and SingTel. And users also could download electronic coupons over the air, reportedly by tapping on RFID tags in smart posters. These coupons could be used for discounts with merchants accepting the NETS payment. Staffers of SingTel and NETS held an internal NFC trial testing the NETS payment and couponing applications in September 2007, say reports.
The trial is significant because NETS is moving beyond its history in toll collection to mass-transit fare payment. It is also trying to develop acceptance of its closed-loop purse to more retail outlets. The move is thanks to a liberalization of Singaporean e-money regulations that also opened up the toll collection business to transit-fare company EZ-Link. EZ-Link held an NFC trial with telco StarHub in 2007. StarHub is No. 2 to SingTel in the market. All four parties, along with banks and others are part of a sort of national trusted service management service the government formed to help insure interoperability of NFC services.
* Trusted Service Manager: Defined loosely to include companies or other organizations securely distributing, provisioning and managing applications, generally over the air, on secure elements in NFC mobile phones; or licensing their platforms for this purpose.
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